Following its approval of placement of an advert with title; ‘All Eyes On The Judiciary’, on billboards across the country considered as blackmailing the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), the Federal Government on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, wielded the sledge hammer by dissolving the secretariat of the Advertising Standard Panel (ASP).
This was contained in a statement by the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo, who also announced the immediate suspension of the Director and Deputy Director of ASP in charge of Regulations to allow investigations into the matter.
Fadolapo said that the Advertising Standards Panel of the Council erred in the approval of one of the concepts, stressing that the advertisement failed to vet guidelines on the following grounds
“The cause forming the central theme of the campaign in the advertisement is a matter pending before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Hence, it’s jus pendis.
“A matter being jus pendis and awaiting judicial pronouncement is, by virtue of the Nigerian legal system, precluded from being a subject of public statement, debate, discussion, advertisement, etc.
“The advertisement is controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace.
“The advertisement is considered blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, and particularly the Honourable Justices of the Tribunal who are expected to discharge their judicial functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis,” he said.
The ARCON Director-General further said the Council would set up a committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the “erroneous approval” of one of the concepts of the advert and the breach of the vetting guidelines.
The ASP is the statutory panel under the council charged with the duty of ensuring that advertisements conform to the prevailing laws of the Federation as well as the code of advertising ethics of the advertising profession.
